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Wednesday, October 20, 2010

How Do They Do That?! Part 5

Aren't y'all tired of this yet? Same morning routine as usual. Out the door a few minutes late because we were trying to get the homework stuffed together. Sent an e-mail to the math teacher. Here's the deal. I get that Z frequently forgets to turn in work. I get that he frequently doesn't bring home work (unless it's for Mrs. Harper who he manages to do everything for). But he did this one packet - I know because it took a battle to get it done. I e-mailed that he was turning it in, she acknowledged receipt. Then it shows up on gradespeed as missing. There were a few other missing assignments. A few weeks later she sends make up work home with everyone in the class apparently and says it will get a max credit of 85. Ok. She sends Z the same darn packet! He does it because it's just better to do it than keep a zero, but I e-mail her again. Umm, excuse me but he's done this packet twice now and you confirmed receipt of it the first time he turned it in. Minimally give full credit since it wasn't late. No response. Look in gradespeed tonight and she gave him a 85, the max points for late work. She dropped the zero I thought he was working on completing, so now I'm very confused. I'm also a little peeved that she's not providing the accommodations I keep talking to her about and he's had very low quiz grades. OK this post forced me to request a conference. I'm just to riled up about it.Any way - took them to school again. That darn school thing keeps happening. I went to school where of course my best laid plans for an uneventful day were blown away. I have duty at 7:45am. What parents don't seem to understand is that the teachers aren't contracted to be there until 8am. We don't even start tutoring until 8:15am to allow teachers time to get their stuff together before the kids come in. But for some reason when I arrive at 7:30 there are already tons of kids hanging out at school. Here's the question - parents, if the kid can't be left at home unattended to get themselves ready and out the door to school, why do you think it's safe for them to be unattended at school with the other hormonal, immature, students who's parents can't trust their kid to be home alone in the morning. I get that you have to get to work on time, but it's just not a smart plan. Ok - I don't know for sure that's why the kids are there so early in the morning I just hate to see them sitting on the porch waiting to get in in the mornings, then sitting in the cafeteria doing nothing for another 30 minutes. I really hate it when the weather starts to get crazy. There's little student popsicles on the front porch of the school.I knew that I needed to stay late at school to get stuff ready for my sub tomorrow. I haven't done sub plans in 2 years, and trying to describe my job as interesting. There is no formula for it. I was at school until about 6:30 trying to write sub plans. Then I rushed over to Double Daves for Winkley Night with the family, then swung back by school to make sure my NJHS kids made it home after Cougar Night (they did and they cleaned everything up nicely - love them!). Writing sub plans when you're job is a support service - "If you get the vibe that little Johnny might get frustrated, or angry in the next 45 minutes stick with him. If you think he'll be ok for a bit go see how this kids doing. f you think they all look cool as a cucumber make sure they are on tasks in class so that they don't get frustrated. Oh and I know you know our campus very well (sarcasm) so you'll do just fine going from room to room all day. Here are the room numbers, the teachers names, and a map. Good luck!" Actually I was much nicer than that. I left key people to help through out the day with contact numbers and directions if the sub gets lost. I also left a page with each student's picture and their schedule just in case. I hope she wears her tennis shoes. Can y'all tell I'm stressing about leaving campus for a day?Made it home about 7:30 and read a few of the 220 blog posts that I have missed in the last couple of days, but I kept thinking that I need to go read my book instead. Much more entertaining today. Kids did the homework, bath, bed thing while I worked on this post. Nate did the take the dog potty thing. Funny thing though.... Haven't done laundry in a while so we had to send Z to bed without any underwear. He'll have fresh in the morning. Not sure he's ever had to sleep without underwear on. I know we've talked about going comando, but not sure he's ever had to. Oh well - he was out of socks too.So it's about 9:15 and I've decided to go read my book in bed. It's a great book that I would love to finish. It's called Big Appetite by Sam McLeod. It's a book about a journey and the guy reflects on his life as he travels. If you're from the south, you'll think "So true!" through out the book. The characters are reflective of people you know, and the situations are totally Southern culture. It's fun! After that I'll have to see what other books I have hiding under my bed to read. My side of the bed is filled with books to read, though I already have my eye on a new book that I want to read, but I put it on my Amazon wish list. I love Gregory McGuire books and realized that I haven't read them all. Thanks Linda for bringing him to my mind again! You had to bring up Poe, which reminded me of McGuire and I had to search him to get the name of that messed up book for you (Great read btw - Lost), and now there are about a billion books that I want to read. Not that I don't have a small pile next to the TV in my room of books to read. But those are specific books, they're part of a series. I carry one of those books in my purse for "down time". You know the moments when you're waiting for your kid to get out of one activity or another. I'm almost done with The Sister's Grimm series. Another great read! Depending on your kids reading level, they're great for 5th - 7th grade kids. The hard part is that there are a lot of literature references that kids these days may not understand. Heck! One of the main characters is Puck. How do I love Puck! Z idolizes Puck - what boy wouldn't if they knew about him! To get the full impact of the Sisters Grimm you would have to be well versed in fairy tales and not the cheesey Disney versions, but the real deals. The books are still a great read without that knowledge, but oh so much better with it! Then I need to finish N.E.R.D.S by the same author. Another great read that has had a second book come out. Of course the family is behind on the Percy Jackson series again. And that author has come out with another series I have to try. It's madness I tell you! I LOVE books! I LOVE literature! I just don't seem to read as fast or as often as others I know, but I'm a busy woman. When I think about the books and the stories I get excited. I want to talk about them, and share about them, and enjoy them. Some laugh, but books are FANTASTIC! And I can't do the electronic versions that have become so popular. Reading is a tactile thing for me. I have to touch the pages. I've been listening to The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana FOREVER! Just not getting the passion out of it that I think Umberto Eco has, though I will say the chapter on masturbation was pretty passionate - who am I kidding! No it wasn't. It was dry and scientific. I've also been reading the same Ann Rice book for I don't know how many years. I remember when I started reading the book. It was my first Women of Faith trip - I think I've blogged about that somewhere on here a long time ago. I might actually finish it by the start of next school year. I keep it in the only semi - private place in the house. Ok so now you know - I store books everywhere! I would love to get the library done so that I can store books there. Maybe next summer.

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